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Protectors of the Planets (Season 1)
The first season''' of Protectors of the Planets ''ran between January 1st, 2010 and March 11th, 2010 exclusively via Jaba Studio's web streaming service, Revma. Although Reece Bridgwater was show-runner, he executively-produced all eight episodes alongside Rob Lowes and Mariana Hiltch. The season opened with "From Across the Stars" and concluded with "Soul Switch". Despite each story features new faces and settings, the season stars Callum Turner, Ashton Sanders, Daniel Wu, Katherine Langford, Tequan Richmond, Julie Warner, Douglas Booth and Emily Alyn Lind in main and recurring roles. The premiere was watched by a 12.6 weekly million viewers, and six days after the premiere episode was made available to stream, ''Protectors of the Planets was renewed for a second season. It was met with a vast amount of positive reviews, being praised for "a refreshing form of sci-fi adventure, with all new original ideas" and "a collection of beautiful performances by both recurring and guest actors". Overview A wide range of different characters, from friends to foes, helped form the foundation of a regular cast the duo meet throughout the show's future, as well as forming important connections to the show's several spin-offs. Episodes See also: List of Protectors of the Planets episodes (2005–present) Casting S''ee also: List of Protectors of the Planets cast members'' Although each story during the season features new faces and settings, the season stars Callum Turner, Ashton Sanders, Daniel Wu, Katherine Langford, Lenora Crichlow, Tequan Richmond, Julie Warner, Douglas Booth and Emily Alyn Lind in main and recurring roles. Callum Turner and Ashton Sanders portrayed Jacob and Conrad Lily respectively in this season. Bridgwater wanted to cast two upcoming actors in the role as a way to spark excitement and life in the show. The role of Jacob was originally offered to Josh Bowman however he had other commitments at the time - and since has regretted regrets this. Alexios and Cass, originally cast for exclusively for voice acting segments in the show, were portrayed by Daniel Wu and Katherine Langford. Mark Daglish, an executive producer for the show was adamant for the use of a female as one of the "hosts" in the show, allowing for a clear contrast from Wu's voice, as well as to allow for diversity within the show. '''Voice --> acting Heidi Clement, the "naive human" was portrayed by Lenora Crichlow after casting director Grant Burton suggested Crinchlow to the executive producers after seeing her performance in the BBC Three television show Being Human. Recurring characters for the season included Tequan Richmond as Yaguri, the embodiment of Alexios and Cass' dark thoughts and actions; Julie Warner as Maria Lily, Jacob and Conrads mother; and Douglas Booth as Derek St Clair and Emily Alyn Lind as Dana Turner, the duo's best friends. Production Development English writer Reece Bridgwater was given the opportunity to produce new shows for the upcoming Jaba Studios streaming service Revma in the late 2000s. To contrast against his mystery thriller hit Pandora (2008-15) he wanted to produce a science-fiction drama, with shows such as The Twilight Zone acting as inspiration. Bridgwater wanted to focus a simple idea of two intergalactic space-agents protecting the universe from threats, and then overtime increase the lore and complexity of the universe. It wasn't until much later on in the development of the show that the idea of 'Hosting' - the sharing of a body between two consciousness - came into play, with Jacob & Conrad and Alexios & Cass becoming separate characters and personalities. He also wanted to introduce concepts and features of the show from another unaware-perspective, which resulted in Heidi Clement being created, although her entry into the show was purposely slow (as the rush of characters into the show was something Bridgwater's wanted to avoid). Writing The first season of Protectors of the Planets ''featured eight scripts, all either written or co-written by Bridgwater and another writer. This is due to Bridgwater wanting to control both the tone and the fundamental-ideas of the show. Jaba Studios had privately confirmed a Season 2 to Bridgwater during the production of the first season. Consequently, mythology and story-arcs were developed to continue into the future of the season. As well as season long story-arcs, taking inspiration from television shows such as ''Smallvile each season would have a "Big Bad" antagonist. Rebecca Ritchie served as the script editor for the entire season, although primarily ensured that they were right for production, instead of developing storylines and ideas with writers; again because of the controlled vision of Bridgwaters'. Filming Each episode took from two-and-a-half to three weeks to film, with all "spoilery' content filmed using a skeleton crew to avoid anyone leaking any information and scenes. Four directors were present on the season, each filming two episodes each, one after another in their assigned production block. Amanda Hescott directed the second and sixth episode, Alexandra Rives directed the first and third, Simon Nichol the seventh and fifth, and Clair Harvet the fourth and eighth. Principal photography for the television show began on January 4th, 2009 on location in Yorkshire Moors for the first produced episode, "The Hound of Pluto" with all exterior and interior scenes for the episode filmed on location. The second part of the production block, "The Paradise Keepers" was filmed in the south of France to replicate the planets geology. Both "From Across the Stars" and "Control One" were filmed in February to March 2009, mainly in central London as well as the Jaba Filming Studios. The Whitechapel Eleven used locations in Bath to replicate London in the late 1800's, while some of The Girl in Red was filmed in forests near Norwich. The popular low-budget episode "Poached Tears" was intentionally set mainly interior locations filmed inside the Jaba Filming Studios. Filming concluded on the 17th June 2009 with the finale episode, "Soul Switch", immediately handed to the editing team at Jaba Studios for post-production. Production blocks were arranged as follows: Release Promotion The first trailer of the season was released both online, advertised on Revma and television in the September of 2009. On November 13th, a handful of promotional images were released depicting several main and recurring characters including: Jacob, Conrad, Heidi, Yaguri, Maria, and Derek. To avoid spoilers this did not include Alexios and Cass. Next, a second trailer was released on December 25th, during the prime-time advertisement slot. This depicted finished-scenes (e.g. added visual effects) which the first trailer did not provide. Along with this, promotional touring began on 27th December and ended three days together, touring major UK cities and a handful of American. The first episode was screened on the final stop of the tour, in New York, on the 30th December, two days before it was available internationally to stream. Broadcast The first season of Protectors of the Planets ''debuted on Jaba Studios streaming platform ''Revma, on New Years Day at 8pm with "From Across the Stars". Just like the other seven episodes, which was available every Friday afterwards, the episode was an hour long. The season concluded with "Soul Switch"'' on February 26th, 2010; notably, the episode finished with a caption reading "Protectors of the Planets Will Return", confirming a second season. As the season is available on Revma to both stream and download, no releases exist for DVD and Blu-ray. Reception Ratings The first episode of the season entitled "From Across the Stars" received the final consolidated viewing figures of 12.6 million viewers (9.9 overnight viewers and 2.7 weekly viewers combined) , making it the highest ever episode streamed on Revma. Part of this came down to the fact that this episode was available to be streamed without a subscription to the streaming platform. Due to the success of this, as well as the vast amount of positive reviews, ''Protectors of the Planets was renewed for a full second season in 2011, two weeks after the premiere. On the other hand, the sixth episode of the season, "The Paradise Keepers"'' received both the lowest final consolidated viewing figures at 10.67 million viewers, and the lowest appreciation index at 86%, with the average appreciation index of the entire season sitting at 91.25%. Critical reception and response ''Protectors of the Planets ''first season had received dominantly positive reviews, both from viewers and critics. In terms of viewers, the season holds a 92% approval rating on online review site ''Rotten Tomatoes with an average score of 8.99/10 and having such reviews as "Protectors of the Planets is a refreshing form of sci-fi adventure with all new original ideas". Meanwhile, a critic for the Times calls the season "a collection of beautiful performances by both recurring and guest actors". Reactions to individual episodes were also positive, with many loving the fourth episode of the season, "Poached Tears", with critics saying it was a "a graceful tragic and thought provoking episode", and one even going as far to say "science-fiction does not get better than this". Awards and nominations The first season of Protectors of the Planets ''was nominated for four Emmy Awards, and it won two; Outstanding Drama season and Outstanding Writing for a Drama season (Reece Bridgwater). Ashton Sanders, who plays Conrad Lily, was also named best actor by the Golden Globes, and was nominated for the Satellite Awards. Soundtrack ''Main Article: Protectors of the Planets: Season 1 (Soundtrack) Selected piece of score from the season, as composed by Ben Foster, were released in a 4-CD set were digitally released - with streaming options - on the 15th May, 2010 by Jaba Studios itself, less than a month from the finale. Limited editions of the soundtrack on vinyl, in both individual and a boxed set, were released in May 2010.